Best sounding live Jimi Hendrix cd?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Chazz, Dec 9, 2006.

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  1. Chazz

    Chazz Music Addict Thread Starter

    Location:
    Southeastern, US
    I would like to hear everyone's opinion on which live Hendrix recording has the best sound. I only have two to compare, "Live at the Fillmore" and "Montery Pop Fest". between the two I like the Fillmore concert cd better for sound quality. What do you guys think?
     
  2. My vote goes to Hendrix In The West. The WG Polydor CD is pretty nice. Catalog number 831 312-2. Especially the songs which were recorded live at the San Diego Arena sound incredible (Little Wing, Red House, Voodoo Chile). Great performance on these songs also. This CD is expensive though, US$50+.

    I also think that The Jimi Hendrix Concerts which was first released in 1982 as a double album (the one with the oil painting on the front cover) is pretty good. I still remember when it came out, and it was regarded as the best sounding Jimi Hendrix live album at the time. There is quite a bit of reverb used on some of the tracks, but I still think the sound quality is quite nice. Especially the lengthy Stone Free version is awesome.

    I don't like the sound quality of the following CD's too much:

    Jimi Plays Monterey, Live At Winterland

    The Isle Of Wright CD (the original one with six tracks and the orange cover) also has a pretty nice sound, but the performance is only so-so.
     
  3. pool_of_tears

    pool_of_tears Searching For Simplicity

    Location:
    Midwest
    Little Wing and Voodoo Chile from In The West don't come from San Diego, despite what those credits say. They're actually from the 2/24/69 Albert Hall concert.

    I like Monterey too, but from the Rhino "Monterey Pop" box set. The ONLY way to go. The Reprise Jimi Plays Monterey has the annying little edits throughout.

    The 1969 San Diego show from Stages is a great one to have...why Douglas left off Foxey Lady is a mystery.
     
  4. Mike Dow

    Mike Dow I kind of like the music

    Location:
    Bangor, Maine
    When thinking of live Jimi, I also think of the quality of the performance first and the sound quality second. The "Fillmore" and "Winterland" discs were recorded with completely different setups 30 months apart...hence the differences in sound quality. For it's time, most of the Monterey material was very well recorded and Jimi's set sounds great on that 1986 album and CD (and the subsequent DVD release) With that in mind, here are my recommendations...

    "Live At The Fillmore"
    "Band Of Gypsys" (the current EH remaster is very good as is the Japanse P20P disc from the early 90's.)
    "Jimi Plays Monterey"- incredible performance, great sound.
    "Jimi Hendrix Concerts" (a grab bag of great performances from different shows...warning: Alan Douglas unnecessarily added extra reverb to some of this material but it's still a great album)
    "Stages"- out of print box set featuring performances from four shows 67-70.
    "In The West"- Polydor 831-312-2 . While this material can be found on later releases (such as 2000 the purple velvet box which you should definitely put on your list) this release is well worth tracking down on it's own. Incredible stuff and great sound on this Polydor CD.
    "Live At Winterland"- Good mix but the mastering is a bit thin and bright. This material was very recorded. Sadly, the compilers largely ignored the best material from Jimi's October 1968 Winterland shows.
    "BBC Sessions"- 1998 Experience Hendrix release. Despite it's shortcomings...(bizarre fake stereo on most tracks, etc), the performances on this two disc set make it essential.
     
  5. therockman

    therockman Senior Member In Memoriam

    My vote for good sounding CDs go to THE L.A FORUM CONCERT, Reprise 9 26435-2 and ATLANTA 1970, Reprise 9 26732-2. These are 2 pretty decent sounding CDs.
     
  6. Mike D'Aversa

    Mike D'Aversa Senior Member

    If you're really into sound quality, I believe his Monterey performance was recently remixed and released on a DVD. You could rip the lpcm stereo mix from that...
     
  7. RPhelps

    RPhelps Forum Resident

    Location:
    Athens, GA
    I have the CD of the Jimi Hendrix concerts and gotta say its about the best that I have - its an english import on Media Motion Limited - the version of Red House from Randall's Island , New York is great but of course I am biased because I was there to see it.... :righton:
     
  8. I have the same CD version you have. I think it is a very early version. There's no UPC on the back. I think the same CD was later released with a bonus track, but I am not sure if the mastering for the rest of the album remained the same.
     
  9. Wow, I didn't know that. The credits are wrong then on the CD.

    It seems to me that these two shows - San Diego and Albert Hall - are both some really good ones. I wish they would release these two in complete form, and properly mastered (w/o compression, reverb, bad EQ'ing, noise-reduction).
     
  10. Chris M

    Chris M Senior Member In Memoriam

    Hendrix manager Michael Jeffery intentionally labeled the 2 Albert Hall tracks (Little Wing, Voodoo Child) as coming from San Diego in an unsuccessful effort to avoid litigation. The Albert Hall stuff (pro audio/film of several early 1969 shows) has been in litigation for 35 years. Supposedly everything has been worked out and EH has a release in the works..
     
  11. Chris M

    Chris M Senior Member In Memoriam

    I'm pretty sure those shows have never been issued as stand alone discs. The LA Forum show was Disc 4 of the way OOP Reprise Lifelines box. Atlanta Pop '70 was part of the Stages box. The LA Forum show was very well recorded. Atlanta was a weak performance and recording.
     
  12. Chris M

    Chris M Senior Member In Memoriam

    Stone Free on the Jimi Hendrix Concerts (from Albert Hall) is ***** hot. Unfortunately, a crappy mono source was used for Stone Free on the 1982 Jimi Hendrix Concerts LP. By that time I imagine they no longer had the Albert Hall multitracks (since they didn't have rights to the performances) and just used some old cassette or something for the LP.
     
  13. monkboughtlunch

    monkboughtlunch Senior Member

    Location:
    Texas
    Can someone explain why the 69/70 New Years concerts at Fillmore are poorly mixed, edited and compiled on the 2CD EH release of The Fillmore Concerts.

    I read somewhere that EH doesn't have the multitracks of the Fillmore material and they had to use rough mixdowns made by Jimi and Kramer for this posthumus release.

    So, who has the multitracks for the Fillmore concerts? And how did they fall out of the possession of MCA and the EH estate?

    Will the owner of the multis allow EH to mix a proper complete show from Fillmore or are we stuck with the less than stellar hodgepodge on the 2CD Fillmore posthumous release from EH?
     
  14. Chris M

    Chris M Senior Member In Memoriam

    Wow, you were at the Randall's Island festival? I'd love to hear any recollections you have. That was a really uneven show but Red House was amazing. A better mix without alkl of the reverb of the Randall's Island Red House is on the EH 2CD Vodoo Child compilation. Jimi's enture performance was professionally filmed and recorded. An awful quality clip of Foxy from the show is below. Night Flight showed this clip in the early 80's for some reason.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLEeHgeRmXk
     
  15. pool_of_tears

    pool_of_tears Searching For Simplicity

    Location:
    Midwest
    That credit error goer clear back to the vinyl release. Mike Jeffrey was behind that one.

    I agree 100% about San Diego and Albert Hall :righton:
     
  16. Chris M

    Chris M Senior Member In Memoriam

    You're right, EH doesn't have the Fillmore East multitracks. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen owns the multitracks so EH used mixes that were done shortly after the concerts. I'm not sure why Allen has them. Maybe EH didn't want to pay for them since they already had the rouigh mixes? I remember reading that the multitracks were found in a bank vault in London 10 years ago or so.

    I don't think EH can legally release a complete Fillmore East set since Capitol owns the tracks that were used on the original LP. I'm not 100% sure though. Maybe EH could release alternate mixes of the tracks used for the LP?

    I don't really have any major problens with the EH Live at Fillmore East release. I think the sound is pretty good. Auld Lang Syne/Who Knows wasn't recorded as well as the rest of the show due to some kind of malfunction. Let's see...I don't think Wild Thing has any business on that release. I would have used the 12/31 Earth Blues as it's a much tighter peformance than the one EH used. I also would have added Ezy Ryder. No idea why EH didn't use it. Maybe they didn't have a mix of it in their vault..
     
  17. btomarra

    btomarra Classic Rock Audiophile

    Location:
    Little Rock, AR


    Had a question. In checking around websites that sell used CDs, sellers had copies that were described as CD reissues of In The West on Polygram with duplicate artwork that are imports for a decent price. Was this particular Cd reissued in the UK?
     
  18. I think these are CD on demand re-issues (CD-R's). Not the original thing.
     
  19. therockman

    therockman Senior Member In Memoriam

    I have a little boxset of 6 CDs called THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE LIVE AT WINTERLAND SAN FRANCISCO. The 6 discs cover 3 nights, 10/10/68, 10/11/68 and 10/12/68. The discs are real CDs, not CDRs, and it is on Whoopy Cat Records. The quality is actually pretty good and the performances are great.
     
  20. Chris M

    Chris M Senior Member In Memoriam

    Great shows but that's basically a bootleg you have there..
     
  21. monkboughtlunch

    monkboughtlunch Senior Member

    Location:
    Texas
    Why does Paul Allen have them? Is that Microsoft Nazi going to hoard the multis? This is just ridiculous.
     
  22. signothetimes53

    signothetimes53 Senior Member

    This is simply untrue.

    I also have this box set, and one of the shows is a seriously mediocre audience recording. The other two are soundboards, but I have to admit I was pretty pissed to be misled by the advance hype that said all three shows, all 6 CDs, were sourced from soundboards. They are not.
     
  23. Mike Dow

    Mike Dow I kind of like the music

    Location:
    Bangor, Maine
    Nazi? That is unnecessary. :shake:

    He purchased the tapes at an auction for the Experience Music Project. He paid for them...they are his.

    http://www.stereophile.com/news/10158/

    From what I've read, Paul helped Jimi's family by largely financing the legal proceedings which ultimately led to their rightful acquisition of the legal rights to Jimi's legacy. I do not know the details surrounding the 1999 Fillmore set and why the multis may not have been made available to Experience Hendrix. Chris M, John Buchanan or someone else here may be able to shed more light on that.
     
  24. monkboughtlunch

    monkboughtlunch Senior Member

    Location:
    Texas
    Did Paul Allen did that out of benevelence? Or is he buttering them up for a Microsoft licensing deal? Ala "Start Me Up?" Maybe he can use Purple Haze to help promote the brand new Microsoft "Vista" operating system.

    If he really cared, he would make the multis available to the estate so Jimi's fans can enjoy the complete sets from the source reels, unedited and in the best quality.
     
  25. Chris M

    Chris M Senior Member In Memoriam

    3 songs from the second 10/11 show are audience recordings. Everything else is soundboard.
     
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